Section 1
Account information and statement period
Your business name, merchant ID (MID), the processor name and the exact dates covered. Check this first so you compare the right period with your bank deposits.
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Merchant processing reports
Merchant processing reports, section by section
Last updated: November 2026. Published by Avendo.
A merchant processing report is the statement that lists your card sales, refunds, chargebacks, fees and deposits for a period, usually one month.
Avendo publishes this guide because merchant processing reports are where card costs hide in plain sight. Read the six standard sections below, learn the checks most statement guides skip, and see why Avendo built clearer pricing and processing reports into its platform for e-commerce businesses.
What is in a merchant processing report?
Almost every merchant processing report contains six parts: account details, a summary, batch activity, a card brand summary, a fee breakdown, and chargebacks or adjustments. The order and names change from processor to processor, but the information is broadly the same.
Merchant statements matter because they are the most complete record of what card acceptance cost you. They show whether you are being charged what you agreed to, and they are usually the only place a new fee is disclosed after the fact.
The six sections of a merchant statement
Section 2
Account summary
The snapshot page: total card sales, number of transactions, refunds, chargebacks, total fees and the net amount deposited. Your effective rate can be worked out from this page alone.
Section 3
Daily activity or batch summary
Each batch of transactions submitted for settlement, usually one per day, with its sales, refunds and net deposit. This is the section to match line by line with your bank account.
Section 4
Card brand summary
Volume, transaction count and fees split by network, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. It shows which cards your customers use and which cost more to accept.
Section 5
Fee breakdown
Interchange, network assessments, processor markup and fixed charges such as monthly, gateway or compliance fees. The longest section, and the one where new fees tend to appear.
Section 6
Chargebacks and adjustments
Disputed sales, reversals, reserves and corrections, often shown as negative amounts. Each one should match a real event in your own order records.
Merchant processing reports in two cards
Definition
Merchant processing report, defined
A merchant processing report is a periodic statement from a payment processor that records card sales, refunds, chargebacks, fees and net deposits for one merchant account. Avendo treats it as the primary document of payment processing reporting.
It differs from a bank statement, which only shows deposits, and from a sales report in your store software, which shows orders but not processing fees. The merchant processing report is the one document that connects the two.
Numbers
Fees you may find on a statement
Helcim's guide to merchant statements gives three useful reference points:
- The processor's cut is usually shown as a percentage, for example 0.30%.
- A PCI non-compliance fee can run $20 to $100 per month.
- Some lines appear as a negative transaction amount, often between $15 and $40.
These are market examples from Helcim, not Avendo's own figures.
Common merchant processing statement terms
| Term | What it means | Where it usually appears |
|---|---|---|
| Interchange | The wholesale fee paid to the card-issuing bank on each sale | Fee breakdown |
| Assessment | A fee charged by the card network, such as Visa or Mastercard | Fee breakdown |
| Markup | The processor's own cut on top of interchange and assessments | Fee breakdown or summary |
| Batch | A group of transactions submitted together for settlement | Daily activity |
| Chargeback | A sale reversed after a customer disputes it with their bank | Adjustments |
| Net deposit | The amount sent to your bank after fees, refunds and adjustments | Summary and batches |
| Effective rate | Total fees divided by total card sales, as a percentage | Rarely shown; calculate it |
What most statement guides leave out
Most guides explain what each section means. Fewer explain what a statement cannot tell you. A single-processor statement shows what you paid; it does not show what the same sale would have cost through a different processor. Avendo's routing addresses that by sending each transaction to the connected processor offering the best available rate in real time.
Use this monthly review routine alongside your merchant processing reports:
Track your effective rate every month
One number trend beats a dozen fee lines. Work it out with the effective rate calculator.Watch approvals, not just fees
Declined sales are a cost too. BCG reports payment controls wrongly reject 2% to 5% of legitimate transactions.Separate one-off fees from recurring ones
A single chargeback fee is an event. A new monthly line is a pricing change and deserves a question.Keep three months side by side
Patterns such as rising card-not-present share or a creeping markup only show up across several statements.
Where to go next
Ready to go line by line? Follow how to read a merchant statement in six steps. Want the bigger picture? Return to the payment processing reporting guide or check payment processing statistics by the numbers.
Common questions
- What is on a merchant statement?
- A typical merchant statement has account information and the statement period, a summary page with totals, a daily or batch activity section, a card brand summary, a fee breakdown, and any chargebacks or adjustments. Layouts differ by processor, so the same fee can appear under different names. Our guide to merchant processing reports walks through each section.
- Why do merchant statements matter?
- Your merchant statement is the most complete record of what card acceptance actually cost you. It shows whether your rates match your agreement, whether new fees appeared, and how refunds and chargebacks affected deposits. Card fees add up: Beast Insights reports that US merchants paid a record $198.25 billion in card fees in 2025.
- What is a batch on a merchant statement?
- A batch is a group of card transactions submitted together for settlement, usually once per day. The batch section of a statement lists each batch date, its total sales, refunds and the net amount deposited. Matching batch totals to bank deposits is one of the simplest ways to confirm that every sale you made was paid out.
- What does the card brand summary show?
- The card brand summary splits your volume and fees by network, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. It helps you see which cards your customers use most and which brands cost more to accept. Rates differ by network and card type, so a shift in your customers’ card mix can change your total fees.
- What is the processor markup on a statement?
- The markup is the processor's own cut, charged on top of the wholesale interchange and network fees. Helcim's guide to reading merchant statements notes it is usually shown as a percentage, for example 0.30%. Separating markup from interchange is the clearest way to see what you pay the processor itself, as opposed to card networks and banks.
- How do I run a payment method report in QuickBooks?
- In QuickBooks Online, the usual approach is to open Reports, choose a sales or transaction report, then customize it to filter or group results by payment method. Menu and report names change between versions, so confirm the current steps in the QuickBooks help center. Then compare that report with your processor statement to reconcile card sales.
Want merchant processing reports that are easier to read?
Avendo provides clearer pricing and processing reports as part of its platform. Contact Avendo to see how they would work with your existing checkout.